


anchor plant

by fangirl_squee



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, spoilers for up to SiH 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 07:46:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16572539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_squee/pseuds/fangirl_squee
Summary: "Anchor plant - a plant intended to catch attention"Fero certainly does that. It's nice to be surprised.





	anchor plant

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to maddie, for betaing, and for always being there in the dms when i need them

Samol has lived a long time, and most of it has been alone. His siblings and sons used to visit, of course, but the end of the world takes up so much of their time these days. He had worshipers, for a time, and there were still candles lit for him now and then, but nothing that pulled at him.

 

Fero, though, did pull at him. Often literally, tugging at his sleeve or his wing for attention, apparently heedless of Samol’s godly powers.

 

Or, not so heedless - every time Samol went to scold him there was a glint in Fero’s eyes that said he knew  _ exactly _ what he was doing, even if he didn’t realise how dangerous it was. Fero was wary of him like he'd be wary of a bear or a rock slide - a thing to be respectful of, but not a thing that was to be feared in and of itself. 

 

He surprised Samol by- well, in a lot to ways. Changing into strange creatures was one, his quick, often rude, way of talking was another, happy to go on a tangent but dissuading Samol from getting too deep into metaphors. He also surprised Samol by the ways in which he could be quiet, the times in which Samol had come across him speaking softly to the vines growing wild over the towers or to the new Spring growth beginning to come through, telling them about the world they were coming into as though he were coaxing them out of the ground himself. 

 

Sometimes he would come to Samol at night, wordless, and curl up under Samol's wing. Samol surprised himself by not minding it all that much. 

 

That was the thing about Fero, thought Samol, sometimes the surprising thing about him was that he made you learn something new about yourself, even after being alive for thousands of years, or maybe just remember a part of yourself that you'd forgotten. 

 

Food, for example. Samol had forgotten how food could be interesting, how it could even be  _ fun _ .

 

“Blech,” said Fero, pushing away a dish of noodles, “that's awful, that's terrible. Hey, Samol, you gotta try this, it's  _ terrible. _ ”

 

“I'll take your word for it,” said Samol.

 

“Come on!” said Fero, pushing the plate towards him, “Have this terrible mouth experience with me! Don't make me be the  _ only  _ one that tastes how awful this is! Don't you want to have the same taste as me?”

 

“I can think of better ways to do that than eating whatever that is,” said Samol. 

 

He didn’t look up from his dumplings, but had enough godly awareness to feel Fero's pulse jump. Even without that, he could see Fero's cheeks flush out of the corner of his eye. 

 

Huh. Always surprising, this one. 

 

“Whatever,” said Fero quickly, “what are you eating, is it good? It  _ has  _ to be better than whatever I just had, can I have some of yours?”

 

Samol shared his food, an offering from a god that Fero took with the grace and care he took all godly offerings by sticking an entire dumpling in his mouth. Samol laughed, which was probably the reason Fero had done it in the first place. 

 

“Oh, yeah, yours is way better,” said Fero, once he'd swallowed, “whoever did the offering of that other thing probably got their ass kicked, it was  _ so  _ bad, maybe even poisoned.”

 

“It's not poisoned,” said Samol dryly. “Pretty bad luck to poison offerings to a god.” 

 

They walked together after their meal, something they started doing for a reason Samol didn’t remember. Fero had a question about one of the towers maybe, a flimsy excuse that Samol decided not to call him on because. Well. He didn't feel like it, is all.

 

He was old. He was allowed to do things purely because they made him feel good.

 

It was easy to stretch out in the time with Fero, making the end of the world, the end of  _ him _ , feel a little further away than it was. It was nice to have the luxury of forgetting, if only for a little while. 

 

The walk ended where they started from, and Fero lingered still. He was tired, Samol could tell, months of relentlessly trudging through snow still fatiguing him. Samol didn’t blame him. He'd felt like that for the past hundred years or so. He didn’t mind pulling at the stone around them to form a bench for them to sit for a little while. 

 

Fero sat on the ground, cross-legged, despite the space Samol had made for him. 

 

“You're not gonna sit up here?” 

 

“You're not gonna sit down here?” Fero shot back. 

 

Samol huffed a laugh. “Fair enough.”

 

Fero leaned a little, resting his head against Samol's leg. His touch was light at first, the brush of Fero's hair, then the lightest of pressure, and then slowly, slowly, the natural weight of Fero, warm through the fabric of Samol's pants. Samol waited until the tension was all the way out of Fero's shoulders before he moved, carding his hand through Fero's hair. 

 

Fero flinched, straightening. “Sorry.”

 

Samol ran his hand through Fero's hair again, soothing. “Nothing to be sorry for. If I don’t like you doing something, I got no problem telling you, you know that.” He waited a beat. He was used to being patient and he knew anything less than a gentle touch to this would send Fero running. “I know it's something you like, and I'm feeling indulgent.”

 

Fero went still, an animal that’s spotted a predator nearby. “I thought you couldn't read my mind.”

 

“Don't need to,” said Samol. “I've been around long enough to pick on a few signals.”

 

The back of Fero's neck flushed pink. “Um. Sorry?”

 

“What did I just tell you? If I didn't like it, I'd tell you,” said Samol.

 

Fero looked up at him shyly. “I thought it was more that you were feeling indulgent.”

 

Samol chuckled. “You got me feeling a little that way.”

 

The flush of Fero's cheeks deepened and he bit his lip, trying to tamp down on a grin. Samol could feel the flutter of Fero's joy, his excitement, flowing out of him and clouding the air around them. 

 

Fero leant his head against Samol's knee again. He flicked his gaze up at Samol, and then carefully pressed a chaste kiss to the outside of Samol's knee. 

 

Samol smiled, a warmth unfurling in his chest that he hadn't felt for a long time. He ran his fingers through Fero’s hair again, laughing a little as Fero butted up against his hand, cat-like.

 

“I’m too old to be sitting around on the ground,” said Samol, “so if you want any more than that you’re going to have to come up a little closer.”

 

Fero tilted his head back to look up at Samol. “If you’re the earth then I think I already am kind of as close as I can get.”

 

“Boy-”

 

Fero started to stand. “But I  _ guess _ if sitting up there is really that- hey!”

 

Samol picked Fero up, setting Fero down on his lap. Fero squirmed a little, his cheeks flushed a deep pink and biting at his lip again. Samol smoothed a hand through Fero’s hair, taking in Fero’s sharp inhale at his touch.

 

“There,” said Samol. “Much easier on my old bones this way, if you’re wanting to try that again.”

 

He could feel Fero’s muscles twitching under his skin as he leant towards Samol, pressing the same chaste kiss to his lips. Samol smiled, letting Fero relax under his hands before he deepened the kiss. Fero gasped, fingers curling in the fabric of Samol’s shirt.

 

Samol kept his pace slow and unhurried, laying Fero down among the vines. Small purple flowers bloomed across them as he trailed his fingers down Fero’s body.

 

“Quite a show you’re putting on,” said Samol.

 

“Well, you know, I like to make an impression,” said Fero, gasping.

 

“You certainly do that,” said Samol.

 

He leant down, kissing Fero again and letting the vines surround them, weaving a dome overhead. It was nice to be able to leave the world behind for a while, to push his aches and pains to the back of his mind for more pleasant reasons than the end of the world.

 

Samol would be hard-pressed to find a more pleasant reason than Fero in that moment, aching below him, hands reaching for Samol again, pulling him closer, Samol’s name whispered like a prayer.

 

The vines trembled around them, Fero’s feelings bleeding into them, making them blossom with new flowers.

 

Samol trailed a finger across one of the flowers as they lay together, looking down at Fero, still panting. He wasn’t quite present enough yet to pull Samol to him, his hands weakly grasping at Samol’s shirt.

 

The vines retreated at Samol sat up, letting Fero crawl into his lap, curling around him as a winged cat before settling back into his halfling form again. Samol wondered at him, this small being full of such large possibilities. 

 

“Severea and Galencia tried to make you into something to help fix the world,” said Samol, running his hand through Fero’s hair again, “and you have, in a way. Make me want to drag my old bones out of bed to see what new nonsense you're planning.”

 

“Your bones aren't  _ that  _ old,” said Fero. 

 

“Boy I am thousands of years old.”

 

“But you don't look a day over 300,” said Fero cheerfully.

 

Samol laughed, barely feeling the ache in his shoulder.

 

There were hard times coming, but for now there was a moment of quiet for them both to find comfort.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi: mariusperkins on most places


End file.
